Late Holiday Purchase...

Scubadiver59 · 12-29-17, 04:36 PM

Made a comment over in the Types of Green Snakes? thread, and even posted that one picture from a reptile dealer in Las Vegas; however, after reading a lot about that dealer's shop, etc. I decided to forego that purchase.

BUT, I did find another snake that looks great, is a female, about 6' in length, and is a beauty by virtue of the picture posted in Kingsnake.com by Joe Switalski.

The snake in question, and I'm sending money as soon as I get home, is a Malaysian Red-tailed Green Rat Snake (Gonyosoma oxycephalum).

I'm psyched and can't wait to receive it! It'll have to do with a 4'x2'x19" enclosure until I can get either a 6'x2'x21" or one of the big boxes I've been looking at, an 8'x3'x30" (casket) case.

kudzu · 12-29-17, 07:26 PM

Beautiful!!

Bandit · 12-29-17, 09:06 PM

Beautiful snake. All this talk of them is really making me consider one for the future.

Albert Clark · 12-29-17, 11:31 PM

Healthy looking big girl too. Nice.

Roman · 12-30-17, 09:04 AM

Really nice animal.

However, I have an issue with your intended enclosure size.

Gonyosoma is an active snake which likes to climb, so you should provide it with a tall enclosure. If you give it lot of room (like as much space as you can afford) it will repay you with an active behavior during daytime which will be much more interesting as any TV program. An enclosure of 5 x 3 x 5 ft would be good for a pair and your snakes might even be calmer because they can keep their distance to you during maintenance etc.

If this enclosure you intend to use is opening at the top you (and your snake) might have another problem. If they have the opportunity they will stay in the highest branches of your enclosure and will seldom come to the ground. If you open the enclosure from above the snake, it will react from panic flight to fight-to-the-death defense. For a snake, especially for a arboreal snake anything coming from above is a BAD thing (think birds of prey).

My recommendation would be to get a tall enclosure at least of the size I mentioned above, which is front opening (sliding glass doors or opening like the ExoTerras). This will provide your snakes with enough room to keep it’s distance from you and you can work below it, so your snake can watch you doing the maintenance from above. I offer the food from below the snakes as well, so they can strike at the mouse from an above position.

Roman

Scubadiver59 · 12-30-17, 01:24 PM

Point taken, but that being said, I'd have to have at least four of those enclosures for the snakes that I have that climb--two Carpets, a Southern White-lipped Python, and my Taiwanese Beauty; however, that's not going to happen anytime soon, and those snakes are doing well in their current enclosures, though my 8ft+ CP does need an 8ft enclosure (at a minimum).

Eventually, yes, the snakes that climb will have something like what you mention, but for now, they are healthy, feeding well, and are not overly defensive or flighty, nor have they ever bitten.

I do have a used 3.5'x3'x6' (lwh) PVC enclosure, that I picked up for $350, but that one still needs some repair work, i.e. modifications, and won't be occupied for the foreseeable future. I'm not sure who's going in it first, but it might be the RTGR...maybe.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roman

Really nice animal.

However, I have an issue with your intended enclosure size.

Gonyosoma is an active snake which likes to climb, so you should provide it with a tall enclosure. If you give it lot of room (like as much space as you can afford) it will repay you with an active behavior during daytime which will be much more interesting as any TV program. An enclosure of 5 x 3 x 5 ft would be good for a pair and your snakes might even be calmer because they can keep their distance to you during maintenance etc.

If this enclosure you intend to use is opening at the top you (and your snake) might have another problem. If they have the opportunity they will stay in the highest branches of your enclosure and will seldom come to the ground. If you open the enclosure from above the snake, it will react from panic flight to fight-to-the-death defense. For a snake, especially for a arboreal snake anything coming from above is a BAD thing (think birds of prey).

My recommendation would be to get a tall enclosure at least of the size I mentioned above, which is front opening (sliding glass doors or opening like the ExoTerras). This will provide your snakes with enough room to keep it’s distance from you and you can work below it, so your snake can watch you doing the maintenance from above. I offer the food from below the snakes as well, so they can strike at the mouse from an above position.

Roman

**Andy_G** · 12-30-17, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scubadiver59

Point taken, but that being said, I'd have to have at least four of those enclosures for the snakes that I have that climb--two Carpets, a Southern White-lipped Python, and my Taiwanese Beauty; however, that's not going to happen anytime soon, and those snakes are doing well in their current enclosures, though my 8ft+ CP does need an 8ft enclosure (at a minimum).

Eventually, yes, the snakes that climb will have something like what you mention, but for now, they are healthy, feeding well, and are not overly defensive or flighty, nor have they ever bitten.

Gonyosoma tend to remain calmer when positioned higher than you or any movement in their cage and are much more nervous than the species you mentioned,Scuba. You're comparing apples to oranges here in my opinion with all due respect.

Scubadiver59 · 12-30-17, 07:34 PM

Then that would mean that one would need an 7'-8' cage...pray, tell me, who has one of those?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy_G

Gonyosoma tend to remain calmer when positioned higher than you or any movement in their cage and are much more nervous than the species you mentioned,Scuba. You're comparing apples to oranges here in my opinion with all due respect.

jjhill001 · 01-01-18, 08:29 PM

WOW...... That's crazy cool.

**Andy_G** · 01-02-18, 07:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scubadiver59

Then that would mean that one would need an 7'-8' cage...pray, tell me, who has one of those?

So you're 6'11" and don't plan on working or approaching below the snake, nor would it be possible to stack one cage on top of another to give the snake a position higher in relation to you. Got it. Enjoy your new snake, scuba. Also, watch out for doorways being so tall.

jjhill001 · 01-02-18, 08:02 PM

Is it WC? It appears that it's being kept in a tub at the moment, if it's an established LTC or CB it's probably not gonna react much differently in the enclosure that he's planning to use.

Scubadiver59 · 01-03-18, 08:00 AM

I'm still waiting for an answer regarding its current digs. I'll poke the seller again for some answers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjhill001

Is it WC? It appears that it's being kept in a tub at the moment, if it's an established LTC or CB it's probably not gonna react much differently in the enclosure that he's planning to use.

IDvsEGO · 01-03-18, 09:56 AM

pretty snake. I am hoping they have one of these at this weekends show.

Roman · 01-03-18, 03:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scubadiver59

Then that would mean that one would need an 7'-8' cage...pray, tell me, who has one of those?

I keep my Gonyosomas in an enclosure 120 x 80 x 150 cm (ca 4 x 3 x 5 ft). I would prefer to give them some more length, but this is what I have right now. It seems to be OK so far, the snakes prefer more vertical space than horizontal space.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjhill001

Is it WC? It appears that it's being kept in a tub at the moment, if it's an established LTC or CB it's probably not gonna react much differently in the enclosure that he's planning to use.

What the snake is showing in the picture is the first stage of it’s defensive behavior. Inflating the neck and tongue flickering. My trio are CB, I have them since 2013 and they will still react defensive if I come from above them. Occasionally they will bite even in situations they would usually just be curious, they are sometimes a little unpredictable. So I doubt that this kind of behavior will fade with time, especially if most movements will be above the snake.

Roman

jjhill001 · 01-03-18, 07:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roman

I keep my Gonyosomas in an enclosure 120 x 80 x 150 cm (ca 4 x 3 x 5 ft). I would prefer to give them some more length, but this is what I have right now. It seems to be OK so far, the snakes prefer more vertical space than horizontal space.

What the snake is showing in the picture is the first stage of it’s defensive behavior. Inflating the neck and tongue flickering. My trio are CB, I have them since 2013 and they will still react defensive if I come from above them. Occasionally they will bite even in situations they would usually just be curious, they are sometimes a little unpredictable. So I doubt that this kind of behavior will fade with time, especially if most movements will be above the snake.

Roman

Really pretty enclosures Roman, I've yet to delve into the Asian rat snakes yet so I'll take your word for it on this particular species irascibility.

Did you get yours as babies? Did you make any concerted effort to tame them up?